TEACHER BEATS GRADE II PUPILS WITH CRUTCH

MANZINI – Over 250 parents at Manzini Central Primary School are calling for the immediate removal of one of the teachers, whom they allege beats up Grade II pupils with her crutch.

Further, the teacher allegedly bangs the pupils’ heads against classroom walls. The teacher, name withheld as he has not been charged with any offence, is said to have continued with her unfamiliar methods meting corporal punishment and ignored the numerous complaints from the parents.
“I have registered the complaint two times with the Manzini Police Station and nothing has been done so far concerning the maltreatment that my child has been subjected to at school.

“The only thing that the police have advised me to do is to report the matter to the Manzini Regional Education Officer (REO), which I have already done,” one of the parents told a highly-charged meeting held at the school on Wednesday. Further, the parents revealed that their children had been reporting to them that they were being beaten by their teacher using her walking crutch during lessons.

Complain

“My child has told me that his teacher beats him with a walking crutch and sometimes hits his head against the wall countless times. How many times should we complain about this teacher? “Or someone is waiting for her to actually kill one of our children for them to take this matter serious? 
“I tried reasoning with the teacher but she told me to withdraw my children from the school if I did not like the way she mete out punishment,” disclosed the parent. Other parents in the meeting alleged that the teacher in question used anything at her disposal to beat the pupils. “I am not afraid of the teacher; if need be, I can take the law into my own hands,” threatened another parent. It has been gathered that the parents vented their displeasure in the presence of a representative of the REO in the Manzini Region.

Assaulting

It should be noted that this same publication also ran an article whereby the same teacher was convicted by the Eswatini National Court for five months with an option of a fine of E500 for assaulting her colleague in the same school. Chairman of the School Committee, Victor Ngwenya, confirmed the parents’ latest concerns. “Yes, the parents raised this matter during a meeting which was held at the school, whereby they were called to elect a new committee of the school. Almost all the parents disclosed that they were not happy with the way one of the teachers was meting out corporal punishment in one of the classes,” confirmed the chairman.

Meanwhile, Ngwenya disclosed that as a school committee, they had done all possible means to talk to the said teacher with the hope that she would stop acting this way, but to no avail. “I must say that this is pure abuse and I am very disappointed with the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) and the Swatini Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) as this matter has been reported to them several times and the teacher has continued to assault the pupils,” alleged the school chairman. He said they could not be dealing with the same matter for years and this had led parents to give the REO and the schools manager a two-month ultimatum to resolve it or they would force the teacher out of the school premises.

Confirmed

Head teacher of the school, Victor Xaba, confirmed the matter and said that the parents had raised their concerns over the manner in which one of the teachers was punishing pupils at the school. “I am the custodian of positive discipline; I always talk most of the time about positive interventions and I believe that if you are a teacher, you are a co-parent. Since I carried a study on the positive discipline, it should begin at home whereby the child, if he/she has done wrong, must be deprived of certain privileges,” pointed out the head teacher. He said naturally, he did not believe in corporal punishment and teachers needed to come to a point where such was adhered to. “Pertaining to the complaint raised by the parents, we should allow the office of the REO to handle the matter and if it fails, then it would be dealt with by the schools manager,” said Xaba.

Denied

The implicated teacher, when called by this reporter, denied the allegations levelled against her. “There is nothing like that,” said the teacher who then hung up her phone as she refused to respond to the questions posed to her.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: